The woods have come to the castle walls.
Associated Press: President Bush's August 2001 briefing on terrorism threats, described largely as a historical document, included information from three months earlier that al-Qaeda was trying to send operatives into the United States for an explosives attack, according to several people who have seen the memo...The sources said the presidential memo included a series of bullet items that brought Bush through a
history of mostly uncorroborated intelligence that
cited al-Qaeda's interest in hijacking planes to win
the release of Islamic extremists who had been
arrested in 1998 and 1999 as well as the travelings of
suspected al-Qaeda operatives, include some U.S.
citizens, in and out of the United States. It
suggested al-Qaeda might have a support system in
place on U.S. soil, the sources said...And the final
bullet told the president of a recent intelligence
report indicating al-Qaeda operatives were trying to
get inside the United States to carry out an attack
with explosives, the sources said. There was no
specifics about the timing or target, the sources
said. The sources said the briefing memo did not
provide the exact date of that intelligence but made
clear it was in the 2001 time frame, and that FBI and
other agencies were investigating it. The information
had been provided to intelligence and law enforcement
agencies well before Bush's briefing, the sources
said.
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AP: Bush's al Qaeda memo included recent threats
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's August 2001
briefing on terrorism threats, described largely as a
historical document, included information from three
months earlier that al-Qaeda was trying to send
operatives into the United States for an explosives
attack, according to several people who have seen the
memo.
The so-called presidential daily briefing, or PDB,
delivered to Bush on August 6, 2001 -- a month before
the September 11 attacks -- said there were various
reports that Osama bin Laden had wanted to strike
inside the United States as early as 1997 and
continuing into the spring of 2001, the sources told
The Associated Press.
The same month as that briefing of Bush, U.S.
intelligence officials received two uncorroborated
reports suggesting terrorists might use airplanes,
including one that suggested al-Qaeda operatives were
considering flying a plane into a U.S. embassy,
current and former government officials said.
Those August 2001 reports -- among thousands of varied
and uncorroborated threats received by the government
each month -- weren't deemed credible enough to tell
the president or his national security adviser,
Condoleezza Rice, the officials said. Neither involved
the eventual September 11 plot.
The sources who read the presidential memo would only
speak on condition of anonymity because the White
House has not yet declassified the highly sensitive
document, entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike
Inside the United States."
That declassification process is expected to be
completed soon, allowing the Bush administration to
make the document public in a historic disclosure of
secret presidential intelligence briefing materials.
The sources said the presidential memo included a
series of bullet items that brought Bush through a
history of mostly uncorroborated intelligence that
cited al-Qaeda's interest in hijacking planes to win
the release of Islamic extremists who had been
arrested in 1998 and 1999 as well as the travelings of
suspected al-Qaeda operatives, include some U.S.
citizens, in and out of the United States. It
suggested al-Qaeda might have a support system in
place on U.S. soil, the sources said.
The document also included FBI analytical judgments
that some al-Qaeda activities were consistent with
preparation for airline hijackings or other types of
attacks, some members of the commission looking into
the September 11 attacks said earlier this week.
The second-to-last bullet told the president that
there were numerous -- at least 70 -- terror-related
investigations under way by the FBI in 2001 involving
matters or people on U.S. soil, the sources said.
And the final bullet told the president of a recent
intelligence report indicating al-Qaeda operatives
were trying to get inside the United States to carry
out an attack with explosives, the sources said. There
was no specifics about the timing or target, the
sources said.
The sources said the briefing memo did not provide the
exact date of that intelligence but made clear it was
in the 2001 time frame, and that FBI and other
agencies were investigating it. The information had
been provided to intelligence and law enforcement
agencies well before Bush's briefing, the sources
said.
They said final bullet in the presidential memo was
based on an intelligence report received in May 2001
that indicated bin Laden operatives were trying to
cross from Canada into the United States for an
attack.
A joint congressional inquiry report into the
September 11 failures first divulged the existence of
the May 2001 threat report last year but did not
reveal it was included in Bush's briefing. The
congressional inquiry described the intelligence this
way:
"In May 2001, the Intelligence Community obtained
information that supporters of Osama bin Laden were
reportedly planning to infiltrate the United States
via Canada in order to carry out a terrorist operation
using high explosives."
In her testimony Thursday to the September 11
commission, Rice described Bush's August 6 daily
briefing as including mostly "historical information"
and said most threat information in the summer of 2001
involved overseas targets.
Rice also testified that she did not recall seeing any
warnings before September 11 that a plane might be
used a terrorist weapon, though it was possible others
in the White House did.
Current and former government officials familiar with
terrorism intelligence told the AP that in the same
month Bush received his briefing, U.S. intelligence
received two uncorroborated reports -- among hundreds
-- suggesting terrorist might use planes but that
neither reached the president or Rice.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said one report in August 2001 said there was
uncorroborated information that two bin Laden
operatives had met in October 2000 to discuss a plot
to attack the U.S. Embassy in Nairaobi using an
airplane.
That report stated the operative would either bomb the
embassy using the airplane or drive the airplane into
it, according to information provided congressional
investigators and cited in their report released last
year.
Separately, the CIA sent a warning to the Federal
Aviation Administration in August 2001 asking the
agency to advise commercial airliners that six
Pakistanis in Latin America, not connected to
al-Qaeda, were considering a hijacking, bombing or
sabotage of an airliner. That warning did not have
specifics on a time or location but said it could
involve Britain, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, Cuba, among
others, according to information made public by the
congressional inquiry.
Rice stated emphatically on Thursday she did not see
any such reports about al-Qaeda using a plane as a
weapon until after September 11, suggesting the
intelligence may have reached someone lower in the
White House.
"To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Chairman, this kind
of analysis about the use of airplanes as weapons
actually was never briefed to us," she said. "I cannot
tell you that there might not have been a report here
or a report there that reached somebody in our midst."
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